Fainting

In her youth, my sister (who is not exactly a delicate flower) would sometimes faint. It was never quite clear why, and the episodes eventually passed. I was impressed. I couldn't even faint when I tried, and I did try once, in my teens. A pal devised a kind of "fainting recipe" that involved antics like rapid inhaling and exhaling. The antics didn't work.

PITTSBURGH - Rick Santorum dropped his presidential bid nearly a month ago, so his meeting here Friday with presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney would have seemed like the perfect opportunity to offer Romney his endorsement. But even before the 90-minute meeting took place, everyone knew that no such nod would be coming anytime soon. Santorum, like pretty much everyone else who has run in the Republican presidential contest, has embraced the party's standard-bearer with a stiff arm. Of course they will work to defeat President Obama, they say. Yet few have been willing to get behind their party's winner with anything approaching enthusiasm.

THE physician's assistant was removing stitches from my head, one week after neurosurgery. Sitting upright, I suddenly became lightheaded, and the room began to fade away. "I think I'm going to pass out," I matter-of-factly announced to my husband. Faster than you can say "syncope," the medical term for fainting, I was out cold. When I regained consciousness moments later, I was still in the chair. My husband told me I had slumped backward and become unresponsive.

Country singer Randy Travis was resting at home Monday after passing out on stage during a benefit concert in front of a roomful of doctors. The 52-year-old performer fainted in mid-song Sunday during an annual benefit for the Huguley Memorial Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas. The doctors who treated him at the scene said Monday that Travis was struggling with laryngitis because of chronic allergies and had taken several over-the-counter medications. —Associated Press New 'Red Dawn' to invade at last A remake of the 1984 invasion movie "Red Dawn" — with its villains now digitally modified from Chinese to North Korean — will finally hit American shores next year.

They say it's the average person's greatest fear. No, not being stuck alone in an elevator with Howard Stern. Public speaking. Next lifetime, I'm studying human behavior in college. I've got to learn why you can confidently read something aloud in the privacy of your home (even throwing in a couple of hand flourishes and dramatic pauses for maximum effect) and yet take that same speech in front of 30 people and suddenly feel like you've just gotten off the Teacups at Disneyland.

The event at the Foshay Learning Center was billed as a momentous occasion: Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa endorsing Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides. But while cameras trained on Angelides' speech, a smaller moment occurred off-screen: A 12-year-old girl standing on the stage in the hot auditorium crumpled in a faint, and Villaraigosa scooped her up in his arms and carried her outside.

Most people know one simple fact about fainting: It's embarrassing. Medically speaking, however, fainting is a fascinating physiological process. And while the embarrassment can be brushed off, the possible causes of fainting should be explored for clues to more serious, underlying conditions. Who faints: One in five people will have an episode at some time during their lives. What causes it: In athletes and exercisers, the most common cause is dehydration.

It was one of those memorable nuptial moments: "Susan," said Richard Casselberry, facing his bride, "take this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. . . . Father, I am going to pass out." The bride tried to catch the groom, but the dead weight was too much. "Help me!" she cried, and the best man came to the rescue. Five minutes later, after a glass of water and some fresh air, the revivified groom returned.

Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey left George Washington Hospital less than a day after collapsing as he gave a speech. Mukasey, 67, was hospitalized overnight for observation and underwent routine tests, spokeswoman Gina Talamona said. She called the episode "a fainting spell." A person who attended the dinner of the Federalist Society where Mukasey collapsed Thursday night said he was shaking and perhaps slurring his words before he fell.

Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills) was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Tuesday after fainting in his Los Angeles office, a spokeswoman for the 69-year-old congressman said. Waxman had felt "unwell" before fainting, spokeswoman Karen Lightfoot said, but on Wednesday he was "in good spirits" and feeling better. She said the congressman remained in Cedars-Sinai to undergo evaluations and "routine testing."

America has long been fascinated by eating contests, memorialized in our cultural memory as long tables of men and women diving face-first into a cherry pie at the county fair. And we have seen it change, watching in disgust and curiosity as the superhuman scarf down several pounds of chicken wings and inhale dozens of hot dogs, seemingly defying everything we know about the limits of human digestion. But as with all things American, the best way to kick up an old tradition is to add a little ethnic flavor.

Chinua Achebe's "Chike and the River" reads with the directness of a folk tale, even though it's set in the modern world. Originally published in 1966, eight years after the author's landmark novel "Things Fall Apart," it is the first of his four children's books, the story of a boy named Chike who yearns to cross the Niger River, for no other reason than to see what's on the other side. Achebe is one of the signal figures of contemporary African literature, a writer who put the continent on the literary map. "Things Fall Apart," his first novel and still his masterpiece, traces with delicate acuity the clash of traditional and Western cultures through the figure of a man, Okonkwo, caught between the old ways and the new. His battle to preserve not just his identity but also that of his village is tragic and heartbreaking, for he is doomed by the very attributes that in another time might well have served him: his sense of his position, of his responsibility and, ultimately, his sense of self.

Question: Can I expect my shares of Time Warner Inc. to continue to gain in value? Answer: Long-term success for this media and entertainment company is likely to depend on original thinking in adapting to a changing media landscape. Time Warner owns cable TV channels HBO, CNN, TNT and TBS; movie studio Warner Bros.; and such magazines as People, Time and Sports Illustrated. It generates nearly one-third of its sales outside the U.S. The company's bottom line is likely to get a boost this year from film sequels "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2," "The Hangover: Part II" and "Happy Feet 2. " On the smaller screen, TBS has a late-night hit on its hands with "Conan," but HBO has yet to equal past blockbusters "The Sopranos" and "Sex and the City.

Although it is based on a popular Danish series, the show that AMC's "The Killing" most quickly evokes — with its brooding skies, ominous waters and complicated murder-mystery cast — is "Twin Peaks," a fact that AMC seems more than happy to leverage. "Who Killed Rosie Larsen?" is the show's promo, a direct homage, or rip-off, of "Who Killed Laura Palmer?," a question that kept American audiences enthralled for two seasons (though in hindsight it feels like more.) But "The Killing," which premieres Sunday, is not "Twin Peaks," nor was it meant to be; although they both revolve around the murder of a young girl under the lachrymose skies of Washington state, the similarities end there.

USC students didn't move to help Bill Nye, the beloved science entertainer who collapsed right in front of them during a speech on campus. They just sat there, too busy texting and tweeting out news that "The Science Guy" had fainted to move a muscle to help. Or so umpteen reports declared last week ? what seemed to be another bit of proof that young narcissists are wallowing in their technology at the expense of their humanity. What happened with Nye inside Bovard Auditorium remains in significant dispute.

Two at the Telluride Film Festival, three at the Toronto International Film Festival and one at the Mill Valley Film Festival. If that were a list of trophies for the new movie "127 Hours," which opens Friday, the filmmakers would be overjoyed. In fact, it's a partial tally of people who have collapsed during early screenings of the movie about a real-life hiker who amputated his forearm after a falling boulder pinned his hand in a remote canyon. "I started to feel like I was going to throw up," said Courtney Phelps, who was watching "127 Hours" at a recent Producers Guild of America screening in Hollywood and grew ill just as the amputation scene ended.

USC students didn't move to help Bill Nye, the beloved science entertainer who collapsed right in front of them during a speech on campus. They just sat there, too busy texting and tweeting out news that "The Science Guy" had fainted to move a muscle to help. Or so umpteen reports declared last week ? what seemed to be another bit of proof that young narcissists are wallowing in their technology at the expense of their humanity. What happened with Nye inside Bovard Auditorium remains in significant dispute.

We've heard about "The Men Who Stare at Goats" but what about the men who wrangle goats? The goats that had to bear the brunt of George Clooney's psychic assaults were provided by animal coordinator Sled Reynolds and his company, Gentle Jungle. "I only keep about four or five goats," Reynolds said. "We use them in nativity scenes. But we found a rancher near the set in New Mexico who let us use the 80 goats the film required." Just like their costars, when they weren't filming, they hung out in a trailer -- but with fewer amenities.

By Julian E. Barnes Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top American commander in the Mideast, appeared to faint Tuesday while testifying before the U.S. Senate. As he was being questioned by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Petraeus slumped over, looked dazed and was assisted by aides who rushed to his side. A few seconds later, he quickly sat upright again and then left the room under his own power. Twenty minutes later, after being examined by a doctor and having some food, a smiling Petraeus returned to the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing room.

In the late afternoon of April 12, 32-year-old Nguyen Tran of North Hollywood stepped into the KFC at the corner of Witmer and West 6 t h streets near downtown Los Angeles. After a few minutes of scrutinizing the menu board, and glancing at the store's signage, he leaned across the counter and asked the man behind the counter, in an almost conspiratorial voice: "Do you guys have that … you know … the Double Down?" When the cashier tentatively bobbed his head in affirmation, Tran pumped his fist in the air, uttered an excited "Sweet!"